Most New Yorkers know the Lower East Side is a good place to see a band or grab a drink, but it has lots more to offer these days – like shopping.

“It took a while, but I think people are starting to get it,” said boutique owner and designer Jennifer Dutka, who opened Miele on Ludlow Street this week.

“The neighborhood is growing and I think it’s really becoming a destination for people,” agreed Kim Johnson, whose eponymous Orchard Street store, Johnson, has stocked her own designs since she opened two years ago.

Next door to her is 7-week-old Cherish, run by Anna Garner, stocking 15 or so mostly local designers.

And on Stanton Street between Clinton and Suffolk, milliner David Rodriguez has opened his own store, full of hats cheaper than the ones he wholesales to Barneys.

“Every person in the neighborhood is going to be wearing these hats!” he promises.

There are also plenty of new restaurants that offer chic but cheap dining.

The very new and appropriately named Basso Est (Italian for “lower east”) is right next door to hip bar Bauhaus on Orchard Street, and serves traditional Italian fare, while on the corner of Ludlow and Stanton is Café Charbon, a classic French bistro that hosts an all-you-can-eat moules frites party Monday nights and live music.

And it isn’t just bands taking up space in the neighborhood – there’s plenty of off-off Broadway theater to sample.

Once a tiny folk-music venue on St. Marks Place, Sine shut down a few years ago and just reopened in a bigger space on Attorney St. Now it’s rock-central for indie acts.

Pianos has been flavor of the month ever since it opened earlier this year. Now it’s so hot that some smart Alec has made a T-shirt saying “Anywhere but Pianos.”

The club also hosts live bands and the super-popular comedy night, “Tinkle.”